Orange Coast College

Fit to be tied: Pirates, Dons finish 1-1

Friday, October 13, 2006

COSTA MESA - With 3 minutes left in the game, the Orange Coast College men's soccer team had the season's biggest upset win within sight.
Santa Ana's Miguel Cucue dimmed those sights with a game-tying goal in the 87th minute as the Dons escaped the OCC Soccer Complex with a 1-1 tie with the host Pirates on Friday in Orange Empire Conference action.
"If you tell someone before the game that you're going to play Santa Ana and walk out with a 1-1 tie, you'd be satisfied, but we know we should have won that game," OCC head trainer Glenn Strachan said. "We had several opportunities to score, but we're not finishing the way we need to.
"I can't say enough positives about our effort and intensity, but we just not putting the ball in the net."
It's the seventh time in eight games that the Pirates (5-6-3, 1-3-2 in OEC) failed to score more than one goal. Only once all year have they scored more than two.
Following a scoreless tie in the first half, Santa Ana (9-3-3, 4-1-1) was awarded a penalty kick for an OCC foul near its goal. SAC's Nixon Valle ripped a low-left shot toward OCC goalkeeper Alex Roberts and the sophomore guessed right with a solid diving save.
Just three minutes later, OCC capitalized on the momentum. Off a free kick, Ignacio Rivera dribbled right, then, fed a perfect cross-pass to the foot of Dave Barnett, who ripped a shot past SAC goalkeeper Julilan Hernandez and into the back of the net, giving the Pirates a 1-0 advantage.
OCC kept up the pressure and had several strong scoring opportunities, but simply could not get that second goal.
The Dons made them pay in the 87th minute. Off a free kick near the top of the 18-yard box, Luis Guerra's shot bounced off and behind the Pirate wall and right to Cucue, who tied the game with a goal into the low-right corner of the goal.
Orange Coast travels to Fullerton to take on the Hornets on Tuesday, beginning at 3 p.m. before hosting Riverside on Friday (3 p.m.) to kick off the second round of OEC play.